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Bengaluru (Karnataka) – The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has set a record by docking two satellites in space. This event took place on January 16th. India has become the fourth country after Russia, US and China to achieve this feat. Missions like Chandrayaan-4, Gaganyaan and Indian Space Station were dependent on the success of this mission. Chandrayaan-4 will bring lunar soil samples to Earth, while Gaganyaan will send Indians into space.
🚀 🇮🇳 India makes history!
ISRO successfully docks SpaDeX satellites in space, becoming the 4th country to achieve this feat.🌟
Two 220-kg satellites were brought within 3 meters of each other, their rings joined, retracted, and locked in space 🛰️
ISRO also demonstrated… pic.twitter.com/0rAktdu6tN
— Sanatan Prabhat (@SanatanPrabhat) January 16, 2025
1. ISRO launched a space docking mission from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 10 p.m. on 30th December 2024. Under this, 2 satellites were deployed 470 km from the Earth with the help of ‘PSLV-C60 rocket’.
2. The docking was supposed to be done on January 7th; but it was postponed. Then, an attempt was made to dock on January 8th; but due to technical difficulties, the docking could not take place after the satellites were brought closer than 3 metre. Finally, the mission was successful on January 16th.
3. There was no direct contact between these 2 satellites. They were guided from the Earth. Both the satellites were brought close to each other. Now in the coming days, a demonstration of electrical energy transfer between the 2 spacecraft will be done. After that, they will become independent of each other, and they will continue their designated work. These satellites are expected to send valuable information for 2 years.
4. India has patented this docking system and has named it the ‘Indian Docking System’. Since no space agency is disclosing the details of this highly complex process, India had to develop its own docking system. The first docking of spacecraft was done by the United States on March 16th, 1966.